Bone Snow

Another great horror tale from David Haynes.

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Book description

When the snowstorm falls and the power fails, Leo Newman’s humble store acts as shelter
for a desperate group of people, all trapped there waiting for the dawn.

As tensions rise among the teenage kids, neighbors, street thugs and an undercover cop,
Leo barely has time to consider the most harmless and innocent ones. The strangers in his
basement – the young girl and her baby.

From the folk tales of Japanese myths, something insatiable has come to stalk the modern
world. The freezing snow rising inside Leo’s store is far hungrier and deadlier than anything
out in the dark.

My review 

In a down-at-heel area in an American town, where gang culture is rife, a power failure in a snow storm traps a group of people together in a failing store. One of them, a vulnerable-seeming young woman with her baby, is not who she seems.

I found this a really claustrophobic story. There was no way anyone could escape from the others, trapped as they were by the elements and the failure of the store’s electric security shutters. There’s a creeping feeling that things are going bad. People lose their tempers and don’t understand why they feel like this. People die – horribly. I always enjoy the author’s books and it’s often the element of ancient myth that pulls me in tight. This one did. A really creepy chiller of a read.

About the author

David Haynes is a horror fan and has been since he picked up a copy of Salem's Lot by Stephen King.

He loves reading books in the horror genre as well as in other genres but he always comes back to horror.

He writes books in the genre he loves and he hopes the readers enjoy them as much as he enjoyed writing them.

He lives in the UK with his wife, son and dog.

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Just a thought

Books fall open, you fall in ― David McCord

The Snow Killer

There are some authors who you know will give you a good read. Ross Greenwood is one of those and The Snow Killer's fantastic.

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Book description

‘Fear the north wind. Because no one will hear you scream…’

A family is gunned down in the snow but one of the children survives. Three years on, that child takes revenge and the Snow Killer is born. But then, nothing - no further crimes are committed, and the case goes cold.

Fifty years later, has the urge to kill been reawakened? As murder follows murder, the detective team tasked with solving the crimes struggle with the lack of leads. It’s a race against time and the weather – each time it snows another person dies.

As an exhausted and grizzled DI Barton and his team scrabble to put the pieces of the puzzle together, the killer is hiding in plain sight. Meanwhile, the murders continue…

My review 

Wrap up warm and read this!

Part of the story is in the words of a killer and part is a third person telling of the team trying to solve the murders. It’s only when a cold case of fifty years ago comes to light that detectives start to make connections. This looks like the beginning of a good series. Interesting characters and guess what? The DI is happily married and has kids. It’s a long time since I read a crime or police procedural that didn’t feature a maverick with an alcohol problem. Ross Greenwood doesn’t write clichés. What he has written here is a fast-paced, action-filled puzzle of a story with believable characters and spiced with a lot of humour. I want to meet Barton and Strange again!

About the author

I was born in 1973 in Peterborough and lived there until I was 20, attending The King's School in the city. I then began a rather nomadic existence, living and working all over the country and various parts of the world.

I found myself returning to Peterborough many times over the years, usually when things had gone wrong. It was on one of these occasions that I met my partner about 100 metres from my back door whilst walking a dog. Two children swiftly followed. I'm still a little stunned by the pace of it now.

Fifty Years of Fear book was started a long time ago but parenthood and then after working in sales management all my life, i randomly spent four years as a prison officer. Ironically it was the four a.m. feed which gave me the opportunity to finish the book as unable to get back to sleep I completed it in the early morning hours.

I've now written five further books. My second book, The Boy Inside, was picked up by a publisher, and Lazy Blood is also out. All my books are thought provoking, and told with a sense of humour. Reading the reviews has been great.

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Just a thought

Get books, sit yourself down anywhere, and go to reading them yourself
― Abraham Lincoln

A Long Way from Home

This Private Investigator story by Brian Caves is totally gripping. Set in Georgia in the early 1960s, it's a memorable story.

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Book description

Set in Southern Georgia during President Kennedy's term in office, this novel centres around an ex Chicago homicide detective, Tom Bale, who is struggling to come to terms with his past. Six years ago, his wife was killed in a hit-and-run, the driver never found. Bale has slowly crawled his way back up from an alcoholic slide into depression and one day receives a phone call that turns his world upside down. He owes a debt to a friend and cannot refuse.

Bale travels a 1000 miles south to the sleepy town of Paradise Creek, Georgia, to find a missing girl. He is immediately at odds in a racially divided town where strangers are not welcome and secrets are kept hidden.

His investigations take him deep into the swamps to find the missing girl. She has been beaten, raped, left for dead. Bale delves further into the case and finds himself immersed in a web of corruption and lies that lead back to events spanning 15 years. Court trials have been manipulated, other girls have gone missing, never found, and innocent people have lost their lives. And it's down to Bale to stop history from repeating itself, even if it costs him his life.

My review - 

What a powerful novel this is, set in the early 1960s in the small town of Paradise Creek, Georgia. It stands against the background of the Civil Rights speeches of Martin Luther King, who stirred up the demand for equality amongst the black Americans. This, naturally, threatened the perceived superiority of the whites, who enjoyed wielding the power and the money. I found it a gripping read. Tom Bale is an incoming PI from Chicago who is searching for a missing black girl. It’s a real story of small town corruption, covered up by those with something to lose. It’s horrifying, exciting and a very good read.

About the author

Engineering, sales, marketing and operations, business consultancy, project management, procurement management. Ageing rock god with a three-piece blues/rock/funk band. And writer. Always a musician, always a writer.

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Just a thought

You want to remember that while you're judging the book, the book is also judging you 
― Stephen King